He
isn’t selling students (or the audience) his own personality,
authenticity, or commitment; he isn’t selling education as
self-actualization (Dead Poets Society), doesn’t work
miracles with disaffected kids (Dangerous Minds), and
doesn’t succeed with every single student who walks through his
door (Mr. Holland’s Opus).

He’s overly pedantic: Instead of merely urging a student to
stay off the grass, he exhorts, "Walk where the great men who
have gone before you have walked" — not just because it’s good
for the grass, but "because it’s good for you."

By the time we meet Mr. Hundert’s one and only problem student — a class clown (Emile Hirsch) whose father (Harris Yulin) is a
senator — it almost looks as if the movie is going to be about
the free-spirited youngster inspiring the inhibited teacher to
seize the day, rather than the inspirational teacher transforming
the unmotivated student.

Refreshingly, The Emperor’s Club turns out to be about
neither of these things. Instead, it’s a rather thoughtful look
at the purpose and limits of education, the importance of
character and principle, and the meaning of success and failure
in life.